King James is great

Christopher Hitchens (and Richard Dawkins, too!), in the spirit of the 400th anniversary of KJV, argued that the English culture is incomplete without the King James Bible. Now that might be the only thing that the KJV-only fundamentalists could agree with Hitchens and Dawkins.

Interestingly, William Tyndale (Hychyns), the major inspiration behind KJV, is related to Christopher Hitchens. (It’s the filial piety, stupid.)

I need to agree with Hitchens, though. KJV is indeed very influential in the English-speaking world. I’ve heard my supervisor (who is not a Christian) employing phrases from KJV for everyday conversations. Sometimes it is not verbatim, like to “separate the wheat from the chaff.” And this is his favorite: “the truth shall make you free.” He likes to use it in the context of scientific enterprise, of course. It means that we don’t need to be afraid if the data is different from our original hypothesis. The data is the truth, and it shall set you free.